Middle Orient

Iraqi forces on Thursday killed five Islamic State (IS) militants in an operation and an airstrike in the central province of Salahudin, a military statement and a police source said.

A senior U.S. diplomatic official reportedly said Thursday the U.S. is negotiating with the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels an in effort to end the Yemeni Civil War.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) Counter-Terrorist Forces on Sunday captured a so-called Islamic State financial officer during an operation in Syria.

Government airstrikes and artillery attacks ceased Saturday following a unilateral cease-fire in the northwestern province of Idlib, a Syrian war monitor said. The U.S. military, meanwhile, said it struck an al-Qaida leadership facility north of Idlib, marking the first American strike inside the war-torn country since July .

The American military conducted an airstrike against al Qaeda in Syria (AQ-S) “leadership at a facility north of Idlib, Syria” earlier today, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). It is the second time the U.S. has struck al Qaeda operatives in Syria since late June.

U.S. President Donald Trump says Washington had nothing to do with the explosion of an Iranian rocket as it sat on its launchpad at the Imam Khomeini Space Center.

Over the past few weeks, my colleagues at MEI have debated whether the U.S. should stay in Syria or leave. Here I’d make a different argument: that it doesn’t really matter. The president has already made the decision to leave, and while his aides may have been able to slow …

Iran and North Korea both get a great deal of attention from the international community — for all the wrong reasons. Yet while U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un have met several times now, shaking hands, smiling, and posing for photos, Trump has not once …

Israel has reportedly expanded its operations against Iran in the Middle East. In July, Israeli and foreign media attributed airstrikes on Iranian targets near Baghdad to Israel. Last week, U.S. officials confirmed that Israel was responsible for the attacks, which mark the first such air raids on Iraq since 1981, …

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has strongly condemned Israel’s recent “dangerous” drone incursion into the Arab country, delivering a warning to the regime through Russia against further violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty.